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1) In Cognos Connection create a data source (Tools; Directory;
Data Source tab) - there is an Oracle type you can select. As
part of the process, you'll create a signon (typically one
signon to be used by everyone, but it can be individual - so the
user's security is the one that applies).

Make sure to test the connection successfully (that helps a
lot... ;-p)

2) In Framework Manager, use your Metadata Wizard to connect to
your Cognos Connection data source. This should import the
entire metadata information for your database. If you're running
an ERP system, this can take a while.

3) Create a new namespace where you will arrange query subjects
and their fields.

4) Copy / create data sources in your new namespace. If you don't
know what a star schema is - take the time to learn and
understand them. Cognos works best with a single measures table
and peripheral dimension tables. Also, it is NOT recommended to
report directly from your production database & tables. Cognos
reports work best in summary reporting roles, so the db
processing is relatively heavy and is likely to create
performance situations that are um. less then positive.

5) Define your query subject fields as Attributes, Identifiers,
or Measures. Cognos guesses, but is seldom 100% accurate. This
goes along with the Star Schema stuff...

Measures are numeric values that you will want to perform
aggregation with (typically a total, but could be average,
etc.). Many keys are numeric as well as some other fields, but
are not Measures (typically there is no purpose to summing
customer numbers or zip codes, for example).

Identifiers are the key fields - they identify the record(s) in a
query subject.

The Dimension QS's are related to the Fact QS (yes, it is
singular on purpose) through INNER JOINs on the Identifiers.
Typically this whole Star schema thing is handled in an ETL
(extract, transform, load) / Data Mart or Data Warehouse (and
possibly cube) build process.

6) After you've created your namespace, and query subjects and
relationships, you create a package. You can have multiple
packages from the same FM model.

7) Publish the package. This puts it into the content store and
makes a folder in Cognos Connection's Public Folders for the
package - making it available for report creation. Sadly, yes,
all packages are stored in Public Folders - there is no option
here.

Or you can go read the manuals (which I would suggest anyhow).
I've just found the manuals to be of less than sterling help
until you have some overview and understanding of where you want
to go...